Homework-Is it a monster?

Do you have HW today?
Do your HW!
Have you completed your HW?
What is your HW?
You haven't started yet?
OMG it's midnight and you have not finished yet?

These above are common quotes I hear from different families cause nowadays many of my students have difficulties about completing their assignments at home. Parents share their experiences with me and the common complaint is; kids try to spend sometime around their desk, staring at the worksheet or book, playing with anything around them, not being able to focus on the work and not being able to learn from the homework.I guess they are all stressed out.

Of course there are some reasons for being stressed.

Beginning of the autumn term is a difficult period for students. They have just come back from the holiday. A couple of weeks ago they were swimming, playing at the beach, dancing and having fun until late night. Out of routine and discipline.
Now they have to obey the rules, organize themselves, keep their belongings together, finish their homework and go to bed early. Most of them attend courses at the weekends.

It is not fair to expect kids to get back their winter routines in a short period of time. Parents should guide their children through this rough journey.They should start applying the school routines before the schools start. They should be models for their children by getting ready for the new season coming, by taking some notes and making some schedule charts, by organizing their items for work, even by going to bed early and having healthy meals.

The climate is changing, parents should raise awareness on the effects of the season coming and healthy nutrition.

The grade is one level up so there occurs the challenges waiting for the kid. For instance, 1st-4th-6th grades are mostly a shock for children.Every subject deepens suddenly and expected to be analyzed in a wider range of techniques.Most of the subjects and instructors are new.

There might be a load of HW that no one can complete under some circumstances. Most teachers, unaware of each other's assignments, give pages of sheets to be completed in a short period of time. The disorganization of the system at school is not your child's fault.

A new school, therefore new friends and new teachers may enter the scene.Everybody needs sometime to socialize and observe each other and create a strategy to survive peacefully in a new environment.

Separation of the parents is an issue for the kids but mostly parents cannot notice that their negativity has a bad bad influence on the kid. As parents raise their voices in the living room, the kid blames him/herself in the bedroom for being the reason for the fight.But the reason of the child's being not able to concentrate is the parents arguing.It is the vicious circle that parents should see immediately.

Maybe your child has a lot to think nowadays.

Parents should create awareness on the objectives, the content and the time management of the assignment given.They should not check the HW and correct the mistakes at home.They should point at the sources that the child can refer to if he/she has any mistakes. Parents should know that the teacher must see the mistakes so that she/he can support your child.

As a result, parents should stop whining about their children and start applying methods to comprehend the issue that the child is struggling with.
Talk to your child,
see if he/she
is experiencing  a bully
is able to follow the teacher
is able to organize him/herself
is making new friends
is able to feel peaceful in the class
is able to communicate with the teacher
is aware of time management
or not.

Remember, human beings stop learning and focusing when they are stressed out.
Give sometime to your children and support them throughout the school year, observing and communicating but not rushing them.

Changes and Challenges

Education is one of the most important fundamentals of a society. But if that society is located on a very important land, its education system is very much open to manipulation.

The Ministry of Education constantly invites huge educational challenges into the lives of the students. They change the system every year, so they manipulate the future of millions.

Istanbul is a cosmopolitan city so different kinds of public and private schools are available.

If the parents can stand against the economical tsunamis, they tend to construct their child’s education on a successful private school.

Some of the parents prefer IBO schools because that the system is internationally accepted in which the child acquires valuable skills.

During PYP, children are able to embrace and initialize most of the attitudes, learn many ways to inquire a subject and have the opportunity to reflect themselves.

After getting the PYP authorization from IBO, schools start the practice of PYP. On the other hand they do not push themselves to continue with the MYP or DP.

Because there is the student evaluation system called SBS in Turkey, which is put into rule by the Ministry of Education.

Every student has to take the SBS test in order to continue his/her education at a high school.

It is a multiple choice test which drags the students into a variety of tests right after they learn how to read.  Testing and PYP go in parallel to each other at the private primary schools although IBO and SBS are completely opposite organizations.

As a result the inevitable challenges for students, parents and teachers occur.

If MYP is available then SBS success of the school gets lower. The schools take no risks losing parents therefore money. They continue with loading knowledge through memorization and testing that knowledge under the circumstances of SBS.

While students continue their studies at private schools, they also continue at least one SBS course or they study with a one-on-one teacher at the weekends. It is a big challenge for the parents because they have to pay 25.000 Liras (12.500 Euros) for the private school 15.000 Liras (7.500 Euros) for the SBS courses. How tiring is that for a student who is also under the pressure of the ultimate success?

After this unbelievable marathon, students enter the SBS exam of 100 questions and their achievement clarifies the high school that they can apply for education.

After 8 years of education only one test.

The child starts with the PYP  to his/her education life, asks questions, values life, experiences the beautiful stages of learning and self-evaluating then all of a sudden he/she finds herself in the middle of a no-questioning town because of the changing policies of Ministry of Education every year.

Children lose their cognitive and creative skills and experience the same marathon for another 4 years, this time for the university.

It is very unfortunate that students are expected to shape their future this way. It is also very unfortunate for a teacher who has to construct his/her teaching values on a system like SBS because that it’s a must and there is no other choice.

Are you listening?

Of course one of the most essential parts of language acquisition is listening.
But wait a minute, who cares?
As I experience with my one on one students, at most of the private primary schools, the listening parts are not done in the classroom, because the teachers are in a rush of completing their weekly schedule.
Parents pay approximately 25 to 30 thousand liras to the private school and get no listening work done?
It is a pity that the teachers are pushed so much during the school year and so they have to skip some parts and they don't complete the work which should be done in the class.

Teachers mostly work on the grammar parts, they don't use extra visuals and audials.
So when the kids experience the Cambridge exams they are mostly unsuccessful at the listening part. Because they cannot have a chance of getting used to the native speakers that they hear in the exams.They find it funny when they hear a native British audial.

What must be done is a good  question.The problem starts at the planning stage. In august teachers get together and have meetings about the yearly planning, The planning formats push teachers into a fast and general planning.
Unfortunately because of the idea of completing the coursebook, teachers fill in the classic planning formats and skip some parts, mostly they skip the listening parts and as a result kids learn(!) English unaware of the listening skills.

It is unfortunately one of the most important issues in most İstanbul schools.
As ESL instructors we must be careful about the planning progress at the beginning of the  year. Yearly plans should be created in a detailed way so that you can follow a well planned path throughout the year...It mustn't be that hard, right?

what is wrong with you guys?

Yeah since I started my one on one lessons, I have been witnessing several kinds of worksheets from several primary schools available in my students' portfolios. One of the common points of these materials is; they are DATED!
Some teachers mostly give up creating new materials for the kids, some of these materials belong to 80's!
It is unbelievable that some teachers feel comfortable about this issue, because they don't need to work hard, they can sit back and relax and copy a worksheet that was made several years ago!
Because that those sheets are not created in digital platform they just photocopy the material, that's all.
Most of the sheets are not even copied well, some of them are blur, most examples are about old fashioned topics.
I am so sorry...